How Will Big East’s Expansion Affect College Baseball?

It’s all about football (and BCS money), but the latest round of conference shuffling – brought to you by the Big East Conference – will ripple through college baseball as well.

As of this writing, an official announcement is apparently imminent that Boise State, San Diego State, Houston, Central Florida (UCF), and Southern Methodist (SMU) will all join the Big East to bolster its sinking BCS football status. Boise State and San Diego State would join as football only members, while the other three would be full fledged Big East members in all sports. The planned moves would go into effect for the 2013-2014 academic year.

We’re not going to go into all of the football implications. You can find that on 800 other sites. We also won’t touch the irony that the new look “Big East” will include schools that are not even remotely in the “east”.

The question we are most concerned with is: How does all this affect college baseball?

First, neither Boise State nor SMU have baseball teams, so those schools are out of this discussion (how SMU does not have a baseball team though is a head-scratcher). So, let’s start out west and work our way back east to look at how this latest conference shuffle will affect the college baseball landscape.

San Diego State currently plays in the Mountain West Conference in all sports. Since the Aztecs are joining the Big East in football only, the other sports are in line for a new landing spot. According to multiple reports, that landing spot will be the Big West Conference.

It’s a move that would make perfect sense for Tony Gwynn‘s baseball team. The farthest his team would travel for a conference game would be Hawaii (set to join the Big West for the 2013 season) every other year, rather than current jumps to Colorado Springs, Albuquerque and Ft. Worth.

Gwynn would also add another big name to the coaching ranks in the conference. The Big West already includes another former Big Leaguer – Ed Sprague (Pacific) – as well as Hall of Famer Mike Gillespie (UC Irvine) and a hot up and comer – Rick Vanderhook (Cal State Fullerton) – who is returning to his roots after helping UCLA reach the College World Series as an assistant.

The conference that will feel the most ill effects from all the maneuvering is the Mountain West. The conference, which has been somewhat underrated when it comes to college baseball anyway, has just five teams – Air Force, New Mexico, San Diego State, TCU, and UNLV – that will field baseball teams in 2012.

TCU, which was originally set to join the Big East, will leave the Mountain West after the current season to align with the Big 12. Fresno State and Nevada have agreed to leave the WAC for the MWC next year, but they could easily reconsider that move considering there will be no Boise State and no San Diego State in two years. And don’t forget, Utah left the MWC to help form the Pac-12 this season, while BYU left the conference for football independence, while baseball and other BYU sports are now in the WCC.

As it stands, the Mountain West would be left with just Air Force, New Mexico, UNLV and possibly Fresno State in 2014. Odds are those schools will either all be somewhere else or the MWC will align with another conference – the WAC? – before then.

From a baseball standpoint, it’s just a shame. The MWC, especially with the addition of Fresno State, was shaping into what would have been a great conference. The Bulldogs won the 2008 national championship, TCU went to Omaha in 2010, New Mexico is coming off back-to-back NCAA appearances, and Utah and San Diego State have each gone to NCAA regionals in the last three years as well.

Moving east…

Houston and UCF will leave Conference USA to join the Big East in all sports, including baseball starting with the 2014 baseball season.

Houston has experienced an NCAA drought in recent years. The Cougars were a win away from a Super Regional in 2008, but that is their only NCAA appearance over the last five seasons. Houston improved from 25 wins to 27 victories in Todd Whittling’s first season as head coach in 2011.

UCF has made upward movement in head coach Terry Rooney‘s three seasons as head coach after helping LSU reach the CWS as an assistant in 2008. The Knights were one of four C-USA teams to receive an NCAA bid in 2011.

The move to the Big East for those two schools comes as Syracuse and Pittsburgh head to the ACC and West Virginia exits to the Big 12. Syracuse does not have baseball, while neither Pitt nor WVU have sniffed the NCAA Tournament in nearly two decades.

The argument can be made that the addition of two southern schools like UCF (located in Orlando) and Houston will make the Big East a better baseball conference. That argument was made when South Florida (USF-located in Tampa) joined the Big East after the 2005 season, but it hasn’t turned out that way.

USF has not received an NCAA bid in its six seasons as a Big East member. The Bulls compiled a 7-10 record at the Big East Tournament from 2006-2010, but did not qualify for the Big East’s postseason tournament in 2011.

Meanwhile, northern teams in the same conference have been more successful in that stretch. Notre Dame, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s, and UConn (all dugout space heater spots in March and early April) have all received NCAA bids since 2006, while UConn advancing to the program’s first Super Regional this past season. Louisville also earned NCAA bids from 2007-2010, but the Cardinals are the only Big East school not in Florida to play home games in February.

The losses of Houston and UCF leaves C-USA with seven baseball playing schools, while the net for the Big East is unchanged at 12 baseball schools (lose Pitt and West Virginia and gain UCF and Houston).

Other smaller conferences are set to shuffle as well. UT San Antonio and Texas State (as well as Denver, which doesn’t play baseball) will soon join the WAC. Houston Baptist will join the Southland after leaving the Great West Conference (a conference that does not an automatic NCAA bid), while Oral Roberts will leave the Summit League for the Southland Conference.

Dallas Baptist, which went all the way to a Super Regional in 2011 as a DI Independent, joined the Missouri Valley Conference this year, but will leave to join the WAC for the 2012-2013 season.

Nebraska is also in its first season in the Big Ten after leaving the Big 12 after last season, while Missouri and Texas A&M will jump to the SEC next year. As of now, the only change in the ACC will be the addition of Pitt.

The X-factor in the entire situation is the BCS contract will likely be redone prior to the 2013-2014 season, so this latest move by the Big East might not even keep the conference in the BCS.

Confused?

The only certainty in any of this is – there is bound to be much more uncertainty before the smoke clears.

Here’s a look at how many of the aforementioned conferences are currently aligned and how they will potentially look in 2014. Keep in mind that seemingly every move is tentative and all of this could be moot before any of the changes actually take place.